Search results

Brewed a Kolsch-style beer today and ran into an interesting problem. All seemed to go well by the time I took my gravity reading post boil. When I went to check my pH, the sample had a pH of 10.02! I calibrated my meter when I took my mash pH so there shouldn't have been any issues. My mash pH...

I've got a Danby fridge that was converted to a kegerator. While it was a DIY project, I got it second hand. It's treated me very well with the time I've had it. However, you can see in one of the attached images, that the insulation of the door has fallen apart. I was planning on tearing it...

9-gallon Stainless Steel Bayou Classic Kettle (retails at $86) Includes weldless ball valve on drainport and additional replacement gasket Stainless Steel False Bottom (retails at $99) Can use as a boil kettle, mash tun or small volume BIAB Throwing in the following: BrewHa Mash Mixer...

I've seen plenty of posts regarding someone's yeast starter smelling like vinegar. Seems more often than not, it sounds like if the liquid is decanted, there is not as much concern. However, these posts are for making a starter to ferment an entire batch. I made a yeast starter to propagate...

I'm from Chicago but I've been dwelling in Los Angeles for bit, and been a part of the Maltose Falcons. When I lived in Chicago, my LHBS was Brew & Grow on Kedzie. I'm making my triumphant return to the Chi this summer and it appears that Brew & Grow location is now closed. Where are people...

I've been brewing since 2009 with my process slowly evolving to improve my beer over the years. Three or four years ago, I switched up my mashing setup. I went from stainless pot covered in blankets (since 2009) to a RIMS system. In my previous setup, I would do step mashes by adding boiling...

How detrimental is starter temp? Specifically for Belgian strains like 3787 and 530. With something like 1056 or 001, I don't think I would be as concerned. In a new apartment and it's not the best insulated space. Don't have room in my fermentation chamber so my starter is out in the open...

Got some taps second hand. Not sure which series they are. I'm thinking Perlick 500. Anyone recognize these?

I've brewed with fairly hard water over the years with moderate levels of sodium and sulfate. I just moved to a new area and the water appears to be much harder to me, with high levels of sodium (74ppm) and sulfate (174ppm, converted)---see the attached image. In part this may work well with...

Acquired a kegerator second hand. The fridge seemed to work fine when I got it and it appeared in good condition. The person I got it from took good care of it. The actual fridge model is: Danby DAR125SLDD. I have a keg ready to tap and in preparation of moving it to the kegerator, I turned on...

I acquired a kegerator second hand and want to replace all the lines and fittings with duotight and EVABarrier. The tower has Perlick taps installed but the shanks are elbows (or gooseneck?)---see the attached image. From what I'm reading, duotight fittings won't fit these? Is this correct? I...

Have a doppelbock in my keg and I connected my pluto gun to it so I could dispense and sample over the course of time while the beer is lagering. I didn't do this until month 4. So from then until now, every week and a half or so, I'm pulling samples (it's been about a month and a half). The...

How do you adjust the pH in the keg, post fermentation. Is it as simple as adding the acid directly to the keg? Is there a way to calculate how much acid I would need, to lower the pH, with the volume I have? What type of acid would you recommend using? I typically use lactic acid in the mash...

Made a saison a few weeks ago and it's close to packaging time. I tend to bottle condition my saisons. In the past, I've always pitched brand new yeast. This time, I decided to harvest some yeast since it was a blend of two strains. 48 hours after pitch, I top cropped my krausen and put the...

Brewed a saison using an equal starter of WL565 and Wyeast 3724. Started low around 63/64 degrees. Held that and open fermented for three days before capping and letting it free rise. Over the course of day 3 and day 7, added heat til it reached 93-94 degrees, which is where it currently sits...

Brewed a Kolsch two weeks ago. It's an all grain recipe that I've made before but with a new mashing method and on a new system. When I've brewed this in the past, I mashed in at 148 for 60 minutes and lost a couple degrees over the course of an hour finishing at 146 (at the time, didn't have...

In my experience, I've used cacao nibs in several beers, after terminal gravity was reached with great success. However, I'm trying to avoid as much oxidation as possible. By comparison, I dry hop 3-4 days into primary so the active yeast will scrub out the oxygen. I'm wondering if that's...

Oh no, not another "can I leave it in Primary?"question. Well, sort of. Have a big beer right now in primary---10% ABV---using 2nd generation Wyeast 3787. Don't really want to rack to secondary if I don't have to. My schedule for this is to let it ferment out and then lager it around 50...

Brewed a Belgian Patersbier the other day with an OG of 1.052. Build a starter with Wyeast 3787 the week before on a stirplate---crashed for 4-5 days and decanted on brew day. Pitched the yeast in 68 degree wort and placed fermenter in my chamber, lid off. But I forgot to turn the fridge on...

I brewed an American IPA a week ago and set my wort chiller to go. Apparently my digital thermometer was off. It read 80 so I tranferred it to the fermenter. But my fermometer, which goes up to 78, didn't have a reading and the carboy was very warm. It took 5 or 6 hours to drop to 78 degrees...